Ivan Trembow of MMAWeekly.com has posted a report that’s already become a hot topic on MMA forums and Web sites. Of course, anything related to MMA fighters and drug use usually is.

According to his story, dozens of MMA fighters have failed drug tests over the past year in California, testing positive for the ingredients in marijuana, prescription pain killers, cocaine and other narcotics. Almost all of these failed tests have gone unreported until now.

Trembow’s report was prompted by the recent news that UFC top welterweight contender Diego Sanchez tested positive for marijuana following his win over Joe Riggs at December’s UFC Fight Night 7 event. The information became public only last week after the Orange County Register mentioned it at the end of a general MMA column.

Although the information is public record and available to anyone who asks for it, Trembow and others found it peculiar that the UFC didn’t mention Sanchez’s failed test on UFC.com as it does with other fighters’ failed tests.

When asked why the UFC did not acknowledge Sanchez’ drug test failure on its web site, as it has for all other UFC drug test failures over the past year, the UFC did not respond.

When asked why the California State Athletic Commission did not previously disclose or announce Sanchez’ positive drug test, CSAC Executive Officer Armando Garcia said to MMAWeekly, “No one made any requests for public records on it.” Garcia also said that the CSAC would make information about any positive drug tests in the future readily available to media outlets.

A total of 23 MMA fighters failed tests, though Sanchez was the only one to fail a test while fighting in the UFC. Other organizations ranged from Strikeforce to the now-Zuffa-controlled World Extreme Cagefighting to the now-defunct World Fighting Alliance.

Bas Rutten, Ricco Rodriguez and Lodune Sincaid were some of the names with UFC ties who failed tests while fighting for other organizations.

You may notice in the list below that not a single fighter tested positive for steroids over the past year in California. This is because there has been no steroid testing in California over the past year. This will change in April 2007, according to CSAC head Garcia, who said, “No steroid policy has ever been in place in California. Obviously, I was not satisfied by this.”

Trembow’s report will surely bring this subject front and center, and the UFC and president Dana White will undoubtedly be asked about it. And given the widespread use of recreational drugs among MMA fighters this past year, I doubt the subject simply goes away with a “no comment.”

In fairness, out of the five UFC events held in California this past year, only one of the organization’s fighters tested positive in post-fight drug tests.

However, one test will be enough for some people to claim the problem is widespread. Of course, I’m not one of those people. And I hardly find marijuana usage anything worth freaking out about (even though Sanchez knew he could be tested for it and used it anyway).

I think the major problem here is the preferential treatment. Thiago Alves, for example, picked up a huge and impressive win at UFC 66 in December, but the celebration was short-lived when the UFC announced a few days later that he tested positive for a diuretic in a post-fight test.

Francis Ngannou further legitimized himself as a future UFC heavyweight contender on Saturday when he scored a first-round submission victory of Anthony Hamilton in the UFC Fight Night 102 co-main event. See how social media reacted.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Francis Ngannou came into his bout against Anthony Hamilton as the biggest favorite on the fight card, but it likely wasn’t due to his submission skills. Yet the knockout artist Ngannou managed to show some new tricks when he slapped a kimura lock (…)